Thank you everyone for reading my story even if you didn't review! Because this chapter took so long to write, I won't respond to any reviews. It doesn't mean I don't love you! It just means I can't respond at this current time.
Also, please note this chapter is going to be written slightly different from the other chapters for reasons that will be revealed soon.
This chapter contains some elements that people may find disturbing
Chapter Seven: Ghost Town: Sekou's Story
"I have to think about it," said Sekou and he walked out of the Clock Tower.
He walked to the one place he always went to when he needed to think. No one would ever think of looking for the blonde there, seeing as it is the resting place of the demons of his past.
Silently, he slipped past the rusty iron bars of the gate and weaved between the cracked headstones bearing long lost names of old. He came to a stop at one particular marker. It was not very big, only rising two feet from the ground, and was covered in cracks and moss.
Sekou brushed the dead vines off the surface revealing the name of who had been laid to rest here. Akari Suzuki and her date of birth and death, which was some eight years ago. To everyone she was known as Mrs. Akari Suzuki, wife of Mr. Ashita Suzuki, but Sekou, she was only known as…
"Mom…" he whispered.
Sekou's POVI was raised in Twilight Town for as long as I could remember. My mom and dad told me that they found me in an abandoned alley when I was three. They said all I could remember from before was my name, Sekou.
For four years, I was the adopted son of Mr. And Mrs. Suzuki. I made great friends, went to school, and raised hell wherever I went. I didn't worry too much about my past, where I had really come from, who my birth parents were; I was happy and perfectly content with life. That was until I turned seven and the world seemed to have crumbled down around my ears.
It was just after sunset one day in late summer. I was walking home from Haru's house after spending the whole day with him. When I arrived at my house, I knew something was wrong.
All the lights were off and the window was broken. Half of me wanted to run away and call for help, another half wanted to go inside and see if my parents were okay. Making my decision, I opened the door.
Inside, everything was pitch black. I felt around for the light switch and turned it on. The sight I saw was horrific. Blood was splattered everywhere. On the floor, on the walls. I realized the light splashing noise was from me walking through the puddle of blood.
My insides squirmed uncomfortably; I thought I was going to be sick. Cautiously though, I explored the rest of the house. In the kitchen was once of the worst sights I had ever seen my entire life. On the tiled floor in a pool of his own crimson blood was my father.
Or at least his body. His head was nowhere to be found.
Slowly, I sank to my knees, unable to comprehend what was going on. Just this morning he was alive and happy. Dad was going to take Mom out for the day, which is why I was at Haru's. I was too dazed to realize someone had roughly grabbed me by the shoulder.
"Sekou!" my mother hissed in my ear. "Why are you here? You need to get out quickly!"
The look on her sweaty face was that of fear and anxiety. In her soft grey eyes I saw the kind of maternal instinct that a mother had when she knew something was wrong.
We heard footsteps in the house. "You need to hide, sweetie."
She grabbed my hand and raced upstairs to the master bedroom. She locked up the door and then pushed me into the mahogany closet that held her best clothes. Before she closed it she looked me directly into my eyes and said,
"Whatever happens to me, stay in here. Stay hidden."
"Mom…"
Something pounded against the bedroom door.
"Someday, Sekou, you'll find your real family," she continued, teas beginning to fall. "The road will lead you to your home. Don't waste you life dwelling on the past. It does not do one any good." She pulled me into a tight embrace and kissed me on the cheek. "I know you'll grow up to do great things. Remember that I love you."
She then shut the closet doors. Just then the bedroom door burst open. My mother tried to fight Dad's killer, but to no avail.
From what I could see from the tiny crack off the closet doors, the killer had Mom, pinned down on the bed. He ripped her clothes off and then undressed himself. I couldn't understand what was going on but Mom thought that it was bad for she began to panic and struggle even more. The man only seemed to laugh cruelly and thrust himself into her. She screamed and she cried painfully.
It went on like that all night. Sometimes he would turn around and stuff it in her mouth or do other disgusting things like that. I tried as hard as I could not to look but my body was paralyzed and my eyes glued to the scene. All night I watch my mother get raped for endless hours. At dawn my mother could not scream for she had lost her voice hours ago as the man pulled out a knife and stabbed it into her forehead. Her body went limp instantly.
The man then got off of Mom and dressed himself partially. Once or twice I thought saw him glance at where I was hiding. Quite suddenly he dashed at the closet and swung open the doors revealing me sitting there, pale as a ghost.
"How did I miss this?" he said, sending chills up my spine. Whoever this was, he was dangerous. He killed Dad. He killed mom.
I struggled to escape him by thrashing and swinging my arms. Screaming, yelling, and kicking didn't work and I recall I tried to bite him, which was futile.
The man grabbed my arm roughly and slammed me against the wall. "Shut up, you little shit!" he roared at me. When I refused he struck me across the face. A trickle of blood seeped out of a small cut appeared on my cheek where his abnormally sharp nails had scratched me. I quieted immediately, but couldn't help but whimper slightly as the cut burned painfully.
The man slammed me against the wall, a hand around my throat. He smiled devilishly as he watched me squirm in his grip.
"It's not very good for little boys like you to be watching things like that is it?" he cooed like I was five. When I didn't answer his grip tightened. "Answer me, brat!"
Even if I did want to answer I couldn't. I couldn't even really breathe at the moment. I began to get dizzy.
The man's face got closer to mine. "Well now, I'll just have to teach you a lesson," he cooed nibbling on my earlobe and licking the stinging cut on my cheek.
Several warning signals went off at once. A creepy psycho murderer rapist is going to molest me and the fact that I can't breathe in enough air were the major ones. The world was spinning too fast and I seriously felt like I was going to puke.
'Please don't let him do what he did to Mom to me'
Then very quite suddenly, I fell hard onto the ground. The body of the man slumped down onto me, oozing fresh blood all over me from the giant hole in his chest. In front of me stood a tall man in a black trench coat. The hood was down and I could see his spiky silver hair and nearly black eyes. His right hand was covered in the other man's blood.
The silver haired man grabbed the corpse off of me and tossed it carelessly across the room. He continued to stare at me like he was sizing me up. Fearfully, I gazed back. My body was shaking violently and next thing I knew, I was heaving up the last meal I ate. Then the world blurred.
In my mind, Mom's rape and murder kept replaying over and over like a broken record player. When I actually regained conscience, everything was different.
I woke up on a comfortable cot. It was too dim to make out any distinct features of my surroundings but someone must've heard me awake. The same silver haired man who saved me before was suddenly at my side. I began to scoot away but the man held up his hands and said,
"Peace. I don't have any intention to hurt you, kid. I'm not at all like that other guy."
He was referring to the killer. He then smiled brotherly and continued,
"By the way, if you need my name, I'm known as Saxon around here. You got a name?"
I hesitated at first then replied, "Sekou." My throat felt dry and scratchy, like I had been yelling myself hoarse. I gestured to my throat with a questioning look at Saxon. He merely nodded and handed me a glass of water.
"In case you're wondering, you've been out for nearly a week now," he explained as I downed the glass. "Sometimes you'd be all quiet and still, like you were dead, y'know? Then randomly you'll be screaming and yelling and thrashing about. I've met some pretty bi-polar people before, but never a bi-polar sleeper."
An uneasy silence fell upon us after he was done raveling. Saxon cleared his throat and shifted nervously. "Well I guess we just have to take you to the Elite for evaluation. And a name. That's important too."
Though I was curious about what the Elite are and this evaluation and the whole name thing, I didn't ask. I just didn't have the will to ask questions or do anything. I just felt like lying around and grieving. Well Saxon wasn't that kind of person. He was constantly in motion and seemed to brighten up any room he was in. So naturally he couldn't stand me being like I was.
"Okay Mr. Depressed," he said, "I suggest you do something about your hair 'cause we're going to go see the Elite now. So up, up, up!"
He literally pulled me out of the cot and attempted vainly to tame my wild hair. Meanwhile I noticed I wasn't wearing the same clothes I was wearing before. I looked at Saxon in confusion.
He shrugged. "You're old ones were covered in blood. My bad."
I simply nodded as we began to walk in the halls of… well wherever we were. Along the way I saw a few other people dressed like Saxon in long black coats. Finally after many twists and turns we came to a set of double doors. Saxon knocked and the doors opened. Inside was what resembled a courtroom with the raised seats curving around the center of the room, which was where Saxon and I stood. Up in the raised seats were thirteen people, mostly men, in the same black coats as everyone else. Some of them had their hoods up to cover their faces while others kept theirs down.
The man in the center of the thirteen and probably the leader looked down on Saxon and I with his probing violet eyes. "State your business, Saxon," he said.
Saxon straightened up as he was addressed. "I'm here to have the boy I saved, Sekou, evaluated."
The leader fixed his violet eyes on me and stared soul searchingly into my own blue ones. A few minutes passed and he broke contact and turned to whisper a few things to his companions. After a brief discussion with them, he turned back to us and smiled kindly. "The boy has been evaluated and he is allowed to stay. From now on he shall be you apprentice, Saxon."
Someone up in the Elite interrupted. "But he still needs a name, Aixwe," a woman said.
The leader, Aixwe, once again gazed down at me with those soul-searching eyes. "His name shall be…Xen."
The others nodded in agreement. "Welcome to the Organization of the Universal Order, or the Organization if you wish to call it that."
Normal POV"Who was she?"
"Hn?" Sekou shook himself from his revere. He hadn't meant to space out like that.
"Who was that person?" Sora asked again pointing at the grave of Akari Suzuki. "Was she important to you?"
Sekou nodded. "Yeah, very important."
He stood up and dusted off his pants. Looking at the headstone he sighed. "You remember your offer from earlier?"
Sora nodded, slightly confused. "Yeah?"
"I think I'll take you up on that," the blonde said, looking around at the graveyard around him. "I need to get out of here. Too many ghosts dwell here."
Sora smiled his big goofy grin and nodded. "Alright!" he said punching the air with his fist. "First thing tomorrow morning we take off. Pack what you need. See ya round!" And he dashed off to the Clock Tower, leaving Sekou alone again.
"Well, Mom," he said sadly, "I guess this is good-bye."
The blonde could've sworn he felt someone wrap their arms around him and kiss his cheek lightly. He smiled sadly. "Don't worry I remember. I always will."
Then he turned around and walked back to the cemetery gate. Once he reached there, he looked back and saw her waving to him, smiling but crying at the same time.
He blinked and she vanished as if she was never there. Sighing, he returned to the Clock Tower. Meanwhile Akari looked on with pride.
I knew you would always do great things, Sekou.
Well nothing to say except that now the story really begins!
Once again, thanx to all the reviewers! I do not feel worthy of your compliments! Special thank you to Ashley for pushing (and threatening) me to finish writing this chapter. If it weren't for her I would've started another new story and forgotten this one.
(Gives an entire collection of Naruto manga to Ash)
Umm… yeah. Chocolate for everyone who reviews cuz I know this was a kind of depressing chapter.
Next Chapter 8: Intro
"It'll be like last time!"
"Do you know these people?"
"This is bad. Very, very bad."